Mini lathe mini mill any one

[Baryngyl]

Michael,

"OK, a question on making a 7/8X14 piece, do I start with a 7/8 inch bar and cut the threads into it or do I need to start with 15/16 or 1 inch?"

About stock for 7/8"-14 piece. You didn't say what your end product will be. If the part is to be precision machined, I would get a piece of 1" diameter and turn it down, otherwise a piece of 7/8" dia. cold rolled steel will be ok. If you turn the diameter to about .003 undersize, (.872) your threads will work fine.

Mainly just to get a bit of practice on how to use it, I plan to try first making a couple LEE type sizing dies, then a bit later once I am pretty sure I am getting things done right I want to try making a few of the Freechex type gas-check makers, then after that who knows.




Michael Grace

[country gent]

You can use 7/8 round stock most cold rolled is .003-.005 undersized off the rack. Drill rod is normally spot on size and .010 oversized is available in some alloys. The od isnt what determines a threads fit but the depth its cut to. I once seen an apprentice turn a thread dia .025 undersized. .475 for a 1/2" thread. but he held the size of the thread over wires to the correct dimension. Fit great, turned into gage easy with little shake or play. It wasnt going to be as strong as the full dia but it was a thread of the proper size. A little thing most do is after the thread is close to size lightly remove the burr raised in points with a fine file as these can cause bind and you end up with a loose thread when its wore off after a couple times ran in and out. Go slow and check often. We checked threads with 3 wires and miced over them. for practical use measure the threads on a die or 2 with the 3 wires and cut your thread to the same reading or .002-.003 under it.

[Graybeard96]

I purchased a Lathe/Mill combination machine bout 15 years ago. Paid about 1700.** Cdn $ for this Chinese made piece and been very happy with it as it allows me to do fairly precise work also on larger pieces. I am no Machinist but own some Equipment which occasionally needs some obsolete parts made. Added a Live center, 4 Jaw, decent size milling vise and rotary Table shortly thereafter as I needed it. I use mostly HSS bits and have only a set of carbide bits for the stainless Steel stuff. Grizzly sold them as G4015Z. If my Shop (Doghouse) would have the extra Space I would have gone for the G9729 which has automatic cross feed. Cheers

[gunnut14]

JSH,
I am an 80 year old who had his journeyman machinist ticket at age 17.
Since then I have done set up and operated just about every kind of Lathe there is.
So much for my history.

I own a harbor freight mini lathe because that is all I have room for and all I want to own as to size.
I have built a spider chuck for the tail end that allows me to turn longer pieces.
With the four jaw chuck (came extra from Little Machine Shop.com) I have made several muzzle brakes for old milsurp rifles and have turned and threaded the barrels.
You can do a lot and learn a lot on a mini lathe that will stand you in good stead if you eventually decide to go up to a larger lathe.
Experience is experience no matter the size of the equipment.
The most important thing to remember is not to listen to those who say it can't be done.
Think it through and decide how to do something and go ahead and try.

Best of luck however you decide

gunnut14

[Chill Wills]

http://denver.craigslist.org/tls/5572506737.html

Not mine. These almost never come up in this area.

[Chill Wills]

Also, if you want to make a push through sizer to learn on - like a Lee
Choose a better machining steel like 12L14 over cold roll steel.
Check local metal supply or ebay for small amounts
Don't use Ace Hardware store or auto parts store coldroll (1018 steel) or some Chinese alloy -it will be very hard to get a good finish on - especially with you starting out.

You won't wear out 12L14 sizing lead alloy - if you ever somehow did, you will have had a LOT of fun doing it.

[warf73]

You won't wear out 12L14 sizing lead alloy - if you ever somehow did, you will have had a LOT of fun doing it.

Leaded steel sizing lead how ironic is that lol

[JSH]

After reading and chasing around some of the older early lathes, that are supposedly better, I have opted to move with one of the import lathes. The early ones have their own issues that have to be dealt with. As old as some are you either make parts build them your self. Then for what I have seen the older used lathes sell for I could buy two new ones or one new one and a pile of tooling.
I have been told, and advised numerous times to move up to the "next" size. Well I have done so twice, and really breaking my budget and I may have to wait a while on some of the tooling I want.
I think there are certain areas that machines are prett common. I am not in one of them.
Jeff

[Chill Wills]

Yup, Old American iron has its own following just like old rifles. (I have a WWII lathe and mill because they were my fathers)
I think you are on the right track.

[oldred]

After reading and chasing around some of the older early lathes, that are supposedly better, I have opted to move with one of the import lathes. The early ones have their own issues that have to be dealt with. As old as some are you either make parts build them your self. Then for what I have seen the older used lathes sell for I could buy two new ones or one new one and a pile of tooling.
I have been told, and advised numerous times to move up to the "next" size. Well I have done so twice, and really breaking my budget and I may have to wait a while on some of the tooling I want.
I think there are certain areas that machines are pretty common. I am not in one of them.
Jeff

Not sure what size you have decided on but except for the little hobby lathes most of the quality issues with the imports seem to be imaginary. Mine is a 14x40 that came from Harbor Freight of all places and is identical to the Birmingham YCL 1440, it even came with a Birmingham manual! My lathe has taken a beating rebuilding heavy parts for mining, logging and farming equipment and has done so without any problems for over eight years now, several other guys here in this area have these import machines ranging from 10x24 to a couple of the 14x40s like mine but 12x36 is the most common. Every single one of these machines are holding up just fine and if I had to buy another lathe I wouldn't hesitate to buy another import! To me it just makes sense, start out with zero wear and most often highly desirable features that are hard or impossible to find on the older domestic stuff and all for the price of a questionable condition old timer.

[GONRA]

The olde Clausing Vertical Mill is a nice thing to have if one shows up.
Breaks down into 3 manageable loads for moving, has nice big dials, etc.
You need a real "crank up bed" for making NICE HOLES in hardened sheet metal (UZI top plate).

Since 2001 retirement, GONRA has hadalotta fun making small carbide cutters
from broken carbide endmill scrap.
Made an "Eccentric Spindle Indexer" for my 1960's era South Bend 6K lathe.
Use el cheapo Harbor Freight diamond grinder bits/wheels,
45X centering scope in lathe tailstock for "first flute lineup".
Great for grinding radial clearances, etc.

These "Pointless Retired Man" projects go on and on.....

[Ole Joe Clarke]

Back in the day, late 1964 or early 65 I machined this "crank shaft" in trade school. Then years later I had it yellow chromate plated to stop the rust. Problem is, it doesn't fit anything. I think the lathe was a Southbend or something similar.

[Dragonheart]

I own a Grizzly 7X12 and it is better than nothing, but it is very, very limited. If you go the mini-lathe I would suggest first getting an ER32 chuck & collets as these work quite well for round stock up to 20mm. I would also recommend a 4 jaw chuck for larger stock. The standard self centering 3 jaw is just okay. I personally wish I spent more and had gotten an old US made lathe in a more useful size, but you can't pick something like that up and move it across the room.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I have a 5c collet chuck, and it is very useful, allowing a capacity of up to 1⅛in. That is enough for plenty of barrels, and would be more valuable if my headstock bore could accommodate the rest of them. But you can get collets to fit the Morse tapered headstock, and there have the advantage of not cutting into the available length on a short lathe. They go up to ½in. in the 2MT taper, and 3/4in. or the slightly larger 20mm. in 2MT. You can also use them in the tailstock. The snag is that the MT collets are normally tightened by a drawbar. So they don't allow the workpiece to extend down the headstock spindle bore, unless it is for light turning on a small diameter rod, which will pass though the threaded drawbar hole. My Myford lathe has threads to fit a chuck, and it is possible to get a sort of threaded thimble to tighten up MT collets without the drawbar.

As to material for dies, do you have Volvo trucks in the US? Some of them have wheel studs which are 7/8-14 UNF threaded, but slightly enlarged above the thread. Not that you need loading or bullet sizing dies larger than 7/8in. diameter, but it looks very much the thing, and gives a better grip for unscrewing them. I have never liked subjecting my little lathe to the stress of knurling. These will not be free machining steel, I'm sure, and will need annealing. But carbide tools and lapping should make a good job.

[Col4570]

I have a Colchester Student Lathe,it will take 11/4" through the headstock.It has a Taper Turning Attachment,Screw cutting etc.It has a 2.5 HP Single Phase Motor.originaly when it came to me it had a 3 HP,3 Phase Motor.It will do most Gunsmithing jobs I need.

[ProfGAB101]

I just spent about $8000 on a used CNC turning center.

Its going to cost me about $15,000 to upgrade the electrical service and get a second sub panel put in for this machine. Until then I can't even turn it on.

Next comes building up a tooling package for it. Thankfully I all ready have lots of insert tooling with a good stock of proper insert grades. But. The turning center takes 1" square shank insert holders or 1.25" rounds for ID tooling - so lots of new holders and hardened and ground tooling bushings.

Yeah - so far the machine was the cheap part.

Now lets talk about fluids. I will need a few 5 gal buckets of Rustlick WS-5050 soluble cutting oil, a 5 gal a month of Mobil Vactra #2 way oil, and Mobil DTE light for the hydraulics, then other oil for the spindle gearbox.

As someone running manual machines you need more variety but less in quantity. You will want different cutting oils for different materials and cutting operations like Moly- D for reaming tool steel, and Relton rapid tap for threading stainless, and maybe plain old Kerosene for tapping aluminum.

It never ends.

[GONRA]

Upon retiring in 2001 GONRA had plans to do exactly what ProfGAB101 did.
But soon found out that all the crazy stuff I had been "wondering about"
since Teen Age Years could be done on my conventional SB lathe and Clausing mill.
So never got the CNC stuff. Am REALLY ENVIOUS nevertheless.
At 79 years olde, its “too late” for New Project of this magnitude….